One Sydney Park: a haven for the mind, body and spirit

The fourth most common cause of stress among Australians is, paradoxically, the pressure of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

It’s a problem that reflects the Aussie city dweller’s busy, screen-based life where convenience is paramount and relaxing means falling asleep in front of Netflix.

Ask any health expert how we might reduce our stress levels and they will extol the virtues of ‘green exercise’ and time outdoors, so how do we squeeze in these regular trips to the park around our work and Netflix without ending up more stressed than we were before?

A proposed development nestled within Sydney Park, the city’s third largest at 44 hectares, might be just the answer.

Due for completion in 2020, One Sydney Park will comprise 400 apartments and terraces, plus retail, community and landscaped garden spaces, transforming a former warehousing site into a haven for families, dog owners and the health-conscious.

But before you ‘stress’ at the idea of regular early morning circuit classes and wheatgrass shots, take a deep breath and understand the real meaning of health, according to the team behind One Sydney Park.

One Sydney Park will be a haven for families, dog owners and the health-conscious.

“It’s more about the health of the mind than a jog in the park,” says development director Barney Oros of HPG. The project’s unique location has inspired within the team a whole ethos around mind, body and spirit – and everyone involved in the project understands the bigger picture.

“We have a wellness consultant who looks at the whole approach, of how wellness is being integrated. And anyone from the structural engineers to the architects – they all get it, everyone understands what we’re trying to achieve.”

While Oros believes how you live is influenced by where you live, he maintains that it isn’t about pressure to “keep fit” but rather that a sense of wellbeing will develop inevitably and organically when you live that close to nature.

“You don’t have to be a swimsuit model to be healthy. You might not be into cycling or jogging but a 20-minute walk will clear your mind and lift your spirit,” he says. “There will be more positivity around you here, from the man in the coffee shop to the people living in the penthouses.”

This is the first time Sydney buyers have had the opportunity to live embedded within such a huge inner-city park, bordered by parklands on three sides and with the guarantee of no neighbouring developments in the future.

Residents will enjoy sweeping views of the parklands below.

Dr Adrian Liu, managing director at HPG, says the team behind the development wants to show others how it can be done. “This is something unique that people haven’t seen before. The council has also invested money to improve the facilities within the park because we all know you can’t find the same kind of opportunity within the city . It could be the first and last of its kind.”

While Australia’s stress levels may be at a high, so too is the awareness of wellbeing and mental health issues and this, says Oros, is why the project is the “right place at the right time”.

“You pick up any newspaper or magazine and there’s so much more focus on mindfulness, a new approach to living. People are much more conscious nowadays of having a healthy mind above and beyond everything else. If you go to Sydney Park you see people who have embraced that – out on their bikes, walking dogs, having picnics.”

Expecting a largely owner-occupier population, One Sydney Park will offer generously sized apartments with double-height voids and a “ton of sunlight”, the majority with sweeping views (sometimes through wraparound windows) of the parklands below. The shared space will include a ‘zen garden’ on a roofscape where residents can meditate or just “chill out”.

The project’s unique location has inspired a mind, body and spirit ethos.

Amenities, while being mindful of strata costs, are expected to include a swimming pool, exercise facilities and yoga classes. The precinct will boast specialty providores such as organic wholefood stores as well as restaurants and cafes.

While cars will be catered for, Oros says they will also encourage alternative transport options, with Tesla battery chargers set to be included in the car park, to service two Tesla cars specifically for the use of residents as a car share alternative.

“We want to offer a Tesla car sharing service that can be expanded if it’s successful. We need to be conscious of the changes that are taking place around us.”

Sydney is a hard-working city and contributes around 30 per cent of Australia’s GDP.

“There are a lot of techie workers in this area who work long hours. They love the convenience of an urban apartment but if they could only have all that plus peace, quiet, space and room to exercise,” says Oros. “They could come home from work, lie down under a tree and meditate.”

It seems there’s nothing too stressful about maintaining this kind of healthy lifestyle.